Geographical-game apparatus.



C. L. CRUVER.

GEOGRAPHICAL GAME APPARATUS.

APPLICATION HL'ED SEPT- 19 1914.

Patented A111. 11, 1916.

l l l l I I y Gums) THE coLumslA PLANOGRAPH ,C0., WASHINGTON, n. c.

' CURTIS L. CRUVER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

GEOGRAPHICAL-GAME APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 11, 1916.

Application filed September 19, 1914. Serial No. 862,515.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CURTIS L. CRUVER, citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Geographical- GameApparatus; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to game apparatus, its general object being toprovide an apparatus for use in playing a game which will be instructiveboth as to the relative sizes and locations of various countries orother geographical divisions of the globe, and as to the flags, shieldsor other emblems distinctive of each of the said geographical divisions.

More detailed objects are to provide a game board marked in geographicaldivisions equipped with means for readily supporting movable markersbearing legends pertaining to the said divisions; to provide simplemeans for readily designating each of the markers to indicate the playerby whom the marker was placed in its position on the game board; toprovide simple means for holding the said movable markers before theyhave been used in the game in such position that certain portions of thedistinctive markings upon all of the same may be simultaneously visibleto the players; and to provide detachable means for concealing a portionof the distinctive legend upon each marker.

Further objects will be apparent from the following specification andfrom the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective viewof a game board embodying my invention, as it appears during theprogress of the game. Fig. 2 is a fragmentary section through one of thesockets of the game board, together with an elevation of a movablemarker in the form of a national flag and of a playerdesignatingauxiliary marker attached thereto. Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of theflag of Fig. 2 showing thereading matter upon the rear face of the flag.Fig. 4 is an elevation of one of the said auxiliary markers. Fig. 5shows an alternative type of movable marker comprising a standardbearing a shield emblematic of a geographical division, and also showsanother type of player-designator attached thereto.

In its general aspects, my invention aims to provide a game board havingupon its face a map of some portion of the globe, which map preferablydoes not have upon it the names of the countries or other geographicaldivisions displayed thereby, but only the outlines of said geographicaldivisions; or

it may have the said outlines plus the name of a prominent point in eachof the said divisions, such as the capital of the latter if the divisionis a country. Within the field corresponding to each of thesegeographical divisions, the game board is equipped with at least onesocket adapted to receive a movable marker bearing some legendpertaining to one of the geographical sections of the game board. Thismovable marker as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 comprises a flag 1 of celluloidor other suitable material attached to a standard 2, the lower end ofwhich standard will readily slip into one of the sockets 3 upon the gameboard 4. One side or face of each of the flags 1 preferably shows onlythe colored fields characteristic of the flag of a certain country,while the reverse side of the flag (as shown in Fig. 3) carries the nameof the country together with a brief summary of its history or'of otherinteresting information regarding the said country. By making the flagsproper out of a stiff material, such as celluloid, they can readily bekept from curling, so that the reading matter thereon may be concealedfrom View while the entire face of the flag is visible to the players.For this purpose, the stems of the flags may be slipped into auxiliarysockets 5 disposed upon the edge of'the game board, before the game isstarted, thereby permitting all of the flags to be disposed about thegame board where the players can readily see the same and have access tothe same, as partially indicated in Fig. 1.

The game may then be played in any one of many ways, as for example byhaving one of the players successively call out the names of the variouscountries, whereupon each player takes his turn at selecting the flagwhich he believes to designate the country named and at placing thisflag upon the game board in the field which he believes to designate thesaid country. It will be evident that since the descriptive matter uponthe flag is concealed and since the countries are not marked with theirnames, the player must learn both the location of each country and itsdistinctive flag in order to insure a correct play, as otherwise thescore (which may be kept by counting the total number of flags correctlyplaced by each other) will not count for him. To prevent the name andother reading matter on the reverse side of the flag from being seenduring the progress of the play, I preferably provide a plurality oflegend-concealing elements which may be attached to each flag before thesame is moved from its horizontal socketed position, such as a member 6made of opaque celluloid or card-board and provided with clips 7 forsecuring the same to the flag. By making these legend-concealingelements of different colors, one of which is assigned to each player, Iavoid any disputes as to wvhich player has placed the respective flagsin position on the game board, so that the said elements also serve asplayer-designators. However, I do not wish to be limited to thisparticular type of auxiliary marker for designating the player whomaipulated each particular movable marker, nor to the flag form of thelegend-bearing movable marker, nor to the use of a pointed stem and acorresponding socket on the game board. For example, Fig. 5 showsanother type of movable marker comprising a stem or standard 8supporting a shield 9 emblematic of one of the geographical divisions onthe game, board and itself supported by a relatively heavy base 10. Inthis case, the player placing such a marker upon the game board may bedesignated by attaching a split ring 11 to the said movable marker, thesaid split ring being furnished in a variety of colors, and rings of onecolor being selected by each of the players. Neither do I wish to belimited to the equipping of the game board with peripheral sockets 5,nor to the other details herein disclosed, as it will be evident thatthese might be modified in many ways without departing from the spiritof my invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. A game apparatus including a game board marked in fieldscorresponding to geographical sections, and a plurality of movablemarkers each bearing upon one face an unworded emblem characteristic ofone of said sections and upon its reverse face wording relating to thesame'section.

2. A game apparatus including a game board marked in fieldscorresponding to geographical sections, a plurality of movable markersbearing legends respectively characteristic of the said geographicalsections;

and a plurality of player-designating auxiliary markers interchangeablyattachable to each of the said markers.

3. A game apparatus including a game board marked in fieldscorresponding to geographical sections, a plurality of movable markersbearing legends respectively char acteristic of the said geographicalsections, and a plurality of auxiliary markers interchangeablyattachable to each of the said markers, each thereof when attached toone of the said markers concealing a portion of the legend upon thelatter.

4. A game apparatus including a game board displaying a map of aplurality of countries, a plurality of movable markers each bearing uponone face theflag of one of the said countries and bearing upon itsreverse side reading matter relating to the corresponding country, and aplurality of player-designating members interchangeably attachable toeach of the said movable markers and each thereof when thus attachedconcealing the said reading matter upon the reverse side of the flag.

5. A game apparatus including a game board marked in fieldscorresponding to geographical sections, a plurality of movable markerseach bearing upon one face an emblem characteristic of one of the saidgeographical sections and bearing upon its reverse face wording relatingto the corresponding section, and means for supporting the said movablemarkers in a position displaying their first named faces and concealingtheir said reverse faces.

6. A game apparatus including a game board marked in fieldscorresponding to geographical sections and a plurality of markersbearing upon their faces unworded emblems respectively characteristic ofthe said sections, said board having socket formations associated witheach of said sections for receiving the corresponding marker.

7. A game apparatus including a game board bearing a map including aplurality of countries and having the capital of each country designatedthereon, and markers bearing upon their faces the flags of the respective countries, said board being also marked withposition-indicators associated respectively with the said countries forreceiving the flags thereof.

In testimony whereof I have signed my namein presence of two subscribingwitnesses.

CURTIS L. CRUVER.

"Witnesses IV. A; Pn'rnns, M. M. BOYLE.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

